XFlipside: 02
by teh Kae
Summary: Dustin finds out something quite interesting and Luxie and Heresy get up to no good!
1. Easy Money

**X –** Flipside

'X –' in Nail Scratch (20, Bold)

'Flipside' in TopSecret (20)

Chapter One: Easy Money

It had been almost a week now since Luxie had escaped Manticore and ended up in Los Angeles. Her hopes had been quite simple of what would happen and she been thinking about something along the lines of get rich and famous fast.

The second had happened although not particularly in the way she had wished. Her two new companions, Jondy Morgan and Heresy Scott, had turned out to be the same species she was.

Species: a group of animals or plants within a genus

So they were not as much animals or plants as humans with animal genes but Luxie considered them a species and since they were neither human nor animal, she often thought of herself as a freak.

Jondy had quickly become Luxie's favourite person in the world, which was not much of a challenge considering the competition. The two of them got along well enough and had a little secret from Heresy.

Heresy was the middle child in their relationship and she let them know about it too. She was moody and often felt she was ignored, so she donned clothes that accentuated her body and spoke loudly. She let others know how she felt and how much she hated them at the current time of day.

At first, Luxie had hated Heresy, then she thought she might be able to like the young woman, but eventually she had changed her mind again. Heresy's favourite past time was making sure Luxie looked bad and her preferred was of doing so was by snatching a guy away from right under her nose.

Luxie had quickly found routine in the chaotic and unorganised life of the X5s she now lived with and most often found herself sitting in front of the television, flipping through channels with shows she had seen ages ago and shows she wished had never been created.

"Get up!" she heard Heresy's familiar cry and looked up to see her least favourite person. The supermodel was wearing an almost see-through white top held up with three black straps over either shoulder and pants that were sewn together at the sides for a more fashionable look. However, it was, as always her hair that attracted the most attention. It was deep dark brown and the two long streaks framing her face were coloured a bright green. Her orangey-brown eyes shone with anger. Obviously, Luxie was going to have to spend the day with her.

Luxie got up slowly stretching and adjusting her shirt so to annoy Heresy even more. She brushed back a strand of her unruly, black hair, straightened her pants and then walked into the bathroom.

"I don't have time for this, you stupid little girl!"

"What's the rush?"

"We've got to check out a job, I got for us." Within seconds Luxie was out of the bathroom with a quickly cover of red lipstick. Her pale skin was contrasted against not only her hair now but also her pouting lips.

"A job?" Heresy grinned smugly. She enjoyed having Luxie in the dark and today would actually be a good time to keep her there as long as possible.

"I've just got to get some things," she said and walked into a room. A few minutes of jittering Luxie later, Heresy exited her room with a dark blue sports bag and almost dumped it into Luxie's arms.

The girl had not registered the action and Heresy had to use her cat-like reflexes to catch the bag before it hit the ground.

"One, it's your bag," Luxie said with a wide grin. "And two, don't do that." Heresy rolled her eyes, raised her head into the air and took off in an arrogant stalk. Luxie was about to stick her tongue and possibly yell a few curses after the heathen but then realized there was a job waiting for her somewhere.

Jondy had started her part-time waitress job at Savage and was already bored. It was still early only about six o'clock and if it were possible, she would be tired. Sadly, Jondy's genetic coding had been messed up in the lab she had been created in and she was awake, all the time and never a moment of sleep.

Her job at the Savage was only one of the two jobs she had. Her first one had been at a café called LAC and it had been fine. With the money she earned, the occasional cash Heresy got from her little thieving outings and Heresy's poster-girl campaign, the two of them had lived a well-enough life.

Now, however, there was a third girl in their life and she spent most of… almost all of the money they had on food, ate it and then spent half the day asleep. Jondy, although she enjoyed Luxie's company, was quite disturbed by this fact and demanded Heresy help her find a job.

When she felt her phone buzzing in her pocket, she grabbed for it quickly because the only person who ever called her was her baby sister.

"Hey, Jonday," she heard the joyful voice of Luxie on the other end and then a snigger at the pronunciation of the name.

"Yeah?" she asked and held up a finger at a customer. "Hurry, kinda busy."

"Hare got me a job," said Luxie's voice and Jondy sensed a wide grin across the girl's face. "We'll come by after to check how you're doing, she says."

"M'kay, but I gotta go now. I'll see you then," Jondy said and quickly snapped her phone shut. "Sorry, boys. What was it you wanted?"

"One bartender, please," one of them said smugly and his two friends sniggered. Jondy rolled her eyes at the apparent immaturity. "Aww, don't take it that way," he said trying to get on her good side.

"You have five seconds to order a drink, else I'm going to have to ki… call security," she plainly.

"Fine, three beers," he said gruffly, threw the cash on the counter and turned to his friends. "What a bitch," he muttered to them and thought his voice had been drowned by the music. Jondy shook her head at the insult and when she brought over the beer she let herself trip and a swig flew down the guy's neck.

"Gawd, I'm so sorry," Jondy said and slammed the three bottles onto the table. She felt the counter rattle, grabbed the cash and then walked off angrily. She would have never allowed herself such behaviour at the café but here, she felt it was an exception.

She would much rather be in front of the counter than behind it, guzzling beer and dancing the night away. She hoped that the job that Luxie now had would be enough for her to waste on food.

The only thing that unnerved was that Heresy had gotten her the job. Heresy's former jobs were somewhat… unethical and until she had turned to becoming a model and part-time thief, Jondy was actually quite embarrassed about her sister's line of work. She hoped that Luxie's first job would be less sensual.

Luxie had fallen back onto a long red couch and was laughing so hard Heresy wondered why the girl's head had not exploded as of yet. She had been waiting two minutes already, but Luxie did not seem to be backing out.

Eventually Heresy had gotten enough, grabbed the vase off the table and threw the water with flowers still in it at Luxie's face. Luxie spluttered and luckily her laughing had subsided.

"You're joking, right?" Luxie said with a wide grin on her face. "That's not what my job is going to be." She waved her finger at Heresy. Heresy was wearing a tight red boob tube with cowboy-like tassels hanging from it and she had opened the bottom of her pants so far that all they covered was her groin and most of her ass. She was also wearing a red cowboy hat and matching gloves that went up to her elbow.

"Nope," Heresy said with a smile and opened her bag. "I even got you a special treat."

"Nu-uh," Luxie said her grin gone from her face. If Heresy was already looking like she was going to be dancing around a pole and shaking her boobs at guys for them to stuff money in between them, there was no way she would like what she would be getting. If it was half as disgustingly sexy as what the brunette was wearing, Luxie would run screaming from the room – preferably flailing her arms about in the air.

She pulled out something purple and threw it at Luxie. She almost had the girl but Luxie tried hard to hold back. Luxie loved purple and if that demon woman had found out this might be the end of her free will. Without free will Luxie was just… a soldier.

When she held the outfit up she had in her hands a fluffy purple corset that ended like a bathing suit and dark purple fishnets.

"This is all?" she asked. Heresy was not quite sure if she was demanding more because of the amount of skin she was showing or because she just wanted too look sexier.

"You wear the boots with it," Heresy and turned back to her bag. "Lucky we haven't put the spikes on yet."

"I was thinking more along the lines of 'why haven't we' because they'd come in handy with all the freaks I'd have ogling me," Luxie said and got up. When Heresy turned around again, she was slightly amused to have found Luxie stripped to her underwear and trying to work out how to get the outfit on without having panty line. Heresy gave a sigh and threw a g-string at her feline friend.

"Wear that, take off the bra, then the fishnets and the corset over that. And then, you even get these," she said and held up a pair of fluffy purple cat ears and a matching tail that would be stuck to the back of the corset.

"You have a sick, sick sense of humour," Luxie said and started on getting her outfit ready. Heresy sniggered and turned to look at herself in the mirror. She plucked at her bangs to make sure they fell in the right way and wiggled her breasts in their top until they looked a bit bigger. She leaned forward and puckered a kiss to herself.

"Gawd, I'm so hot," she said and turned around. Luxie had turned her back to the brunette and was pointing at the zipper. "Breath in," Heresy said sharply and with a sharp yank pulled the zipper up and turned Luxie around by the shoulders. Luxie was still trying to catch her breath. She had been taught to breath under water for what seemed like forever, but she had never been under the torture of a corset.

Heresy fluffed some of the fur on Luxie's corset, and then examined her face.

"You better not give me another one of your looks, else I'm gonna punch you," Luxie said with such seriousness that Heresy refrained from any facial expressions. Instead she grabbed some mascara off the table and went to work on Luxie's eyes while the girl put on her boots, tail and finally ears. "What about my hair?" she said adjusting the ears. She was quite angry at herself, but her love for fashion had gotten the better of herself and she was quite sure these clothes would be hers for the rest of her life.

"Just mess it up a bit, makes you look older," Heresy said in a tone that seemed much like one an older sister would use. Luxie ignored the way she spoke and listened to the words instead giving her hair a bit of a ruffle. She brushed a streak behind her head. "Nah!" Heresy protested and pulled the streak back forward, letting it hang in front of Luxie's eye.

"Cool," Luxie said plainly and grabbed her tail swinging it seductively.

"Alright," Heresy said and turned Luxie to face her again. "Remember, this is for the cause. Cause being Jondy because we don't want the poor girl to overwork herself. This is just temp until I find something better and possibly only tonight."

"I'm not sure I like they way you add that 'possibly' really quietly," Luxie said raising an eyebrow. She did not because it seemed very suspicious that Heresy was lowering her voice for this bit of information.

"Just checking your hearing, kid," Heresy said upset about having been caught out. She had in fact forgotten that Luxie was one of them and could hear just as well. "Anyway, we're going to be dancing for two guys and please, make it worth the cash we're getting."

"Sure, whatever," Luxie said laxly. Heresy rolled her eyes and led the girl out and back into the club.

"What do you recommend?" Jondy heard a voice and looked up at a particularly handsome young man. He was smiling and if it was not for his slightly lopsided grin, she might have started hitting on him. However, no one had ever asked her opinion on a drink, well, not in the bar that is.

"Uh, beer?" she said with a shrug. "Keeps the muscles relaxed when you start shaking your booty out there," she said and gave a nod towards the dance floor which was down the stairs. He nodded thoughtfully and held up two fingers mouthing the same word.

Jondy ducked down under the bar and soon after put two beers on the table.

"Who's the other one for?" she asked and looked around. The two people around him did not seem as if they belonged to him. The brunette was rubbing herself against someone else and the young man on his right did not seem to be his type.

"You," she said and gave her another smile – this one more sincere. She, however, showed him she did not believe but when he broke the cap of the first bottle, he held it up to her. Slowly she raised the bottle to her mouth and then too a big sip. He smiled, broke of the cap of his bottle and took an equally big swig.

When Jondy lowered the bottle again she gave him a skew smile waiting for him to explain himself. He looked at her like a love-sick puppy which might have made Jondy's insides churn on several occasions but now she felt really good about it.

During this time she took a good look at him. He had brown hair that was stylishly ruffled and kept in place with a fair amount of gel. It had a blue shimmer to it but Jondy expected it to be the lighting at the bar. His eyes were a bright blue, the kind she expected hers to be and the kind that made women's hearts melt. She could feel hers getting there, but she restrained. Apart from those fairly normal features and a fairly nice face, he had two blue stripes under his left eye going down his cheek. It made his pretty boy appearance a bit more mysterious and if there was one thing Jondy craved, it was mystery.

"So?" she asked after a while. "Aren't you going to explain yourself?"

"Do I have to?" he asked with a smirk. Jondy felt her heart slip into her pants. "So, if I come here more often do I have a chance of seeing you again?"

"If you behave."

"What's your name?" he asked looking over her body. She was of average height, blonde, blue-eyed and something any man would catcall, wolf-whistle and bark at any day.

"Jondy, yours?"

"Tom," he said shortly. He glanced over his shoulder. "Are you busy?"

"Nah, I quit," she said with a perky smile and ran off. Tom looked after her, confused by what she had said. This was not what he had expected but then again he was not dealing with your everyday gorgeous girl – Jondy was something special and he knew it.

A moment later she popped up next to him, finished her beer in one big gulp and gave him a wide smile. He laughed and emptied his bottle.

"Would you like to dance?" Jondy nodded and although her face was smiling with the joy of a teenager, her mind was confused. Never had a guy made her feel so good and here she was acting like a girl on her first date. She decided to cast her worries aside for the night so that she could brag to her fellow roommates when they returned home.

When the two of them walked over to the dance floor, Tom slipped his arm over her shoulder and Jondy let hers wander around his waist. She gave a faint prod and felt her insides jiggle at the feel of his well-muscled body.

What Jondy did not notice was that when she poked him, he turned his head and gave a grim nod towards another young man at the counter. He nodded in return and then walked off leaving Jondy and Tom to shake their booties to the music.


	2. Rock Your Body

To whoever it was. This is a SPINOFF... it's not the original series and it's only based on that. I enjoy original characters because i have a lot more freedom when it comes to writing their personalties etc.  
If you read the first chapter of the first episode, you'll get the info, kay?

Chapter Two: Rock Your Body

Luxie breathed in deeply nervous to a certain extent about her debut in the fabulous world of porn. She whimpered silently until Heresy gave her a whack over the head which she returned.

"Hey!" Heresy growled. She did not like being hit and Luxie was one of the last person who would come out alive. She refrained herself because these guys had paid for two girls and if only one showed up… well, Heresy could handle it but she really did not want to. She wanted this over in double the time and find herself someone to share the bed with that night. "Just remember – sexy. I know it's hard for you brain to understand but…" Luxie returned the statement with a glare and then holding assets high, she opened the door walking in the way she had seen Heresy move.

She leaned slightly to her right and gave smirk at the people in the room. She almost jumped when she saw Dustin Infinite sitting on one of the red leather couches. He smiled at her as if he had caught her out but she remained firm, smirking and seeming above it all.

Heresy came into the room behind Luxie and the raven-haired girl noticed all eyes turn to her. Luxie pouted and held her high, feeling upset. This notion made two of the four men there turn to her.

"What's this?" Heresy asked as if she were a teacher scolding a child. "I was told two."

"They're not getting any," Dustin said with a smirk and nodded towards the two bodyguards. Beside him was a man who was a few years older than Dustin but he looked just as attractive. He had slicked back black hair and his eyes looked as if they were of the same colour. Unlike Dustin he had not changed his suit for a more informal dress at the club. There was something suspicious about him but neither Luxie nor Heresy choose to comment on it.

Dustin Infinite was the owner of a well-known weapons company and the city's most wanted bachelor. And Luxie was getting really close to having him. Except – last time she had seen the guy, she had knocked him out cold and stolen a few files from his company's archive.

The man beside him neither of the two girls knew but if he was hanging with Dustin, he was sure to be quite the important man.

"Well, Mister Rich Guy," Heresy said with no respect to his status and his money, "They're gonna be watching and I think that we should be getting more cash then."

"I would never pay a… professional dancer less than she deserved," he said with a smile towards Luxie. She glanced down at him. He had seemed quite charming when she had first met him a week ago at the bar and now here he had changed into this cocky little rich boy who could anything – and anyone – he wanted.

"Well then," Heresy said and walked over to him. She leaned forward, taking his glance away from Luxie and to her breasts. "We've got make sure you get to spray your dollar bills around." She sank down onto his lap making him tense up slightly but not so much to seem he was lead astray completely. The three other men and Luxie watched for a while as Heresy moved her hips to the background music and licking Dustin's neck for the effect.

Then Luxie felt the other seated man stare at her and as much as she wanted money, she really could not bring herself to dance for him. Sure, he was good-looking but currently Dustin was her catch of the day. So she walked over to him and in a moment when Heresy had slipped of his lap, Luxie took that place and did her best to copy what she had seen the brunette do before.

Heresy shrugged and then rolled onto the other man's lap.

"Let's get this party started then," she said and continued her routine as if nothing had happened.

Luxie felt Dustin's hand slid onto the small over her back and she moved forward a bit. She swayed a bit and then moved back letting his head wander at the desire to be closer to her breasts. Within moments, the two girls were making sure that Dustin and his companion got their money's worth.

Hunter looked around making sure there was no one to see him slip on his black nylon mask and enter the room he had seen the two transgenetic girls storm into moments before.

"Hey!" someone shouted when he entered the room and he was momentarily taken aback by the scene. The two girls he thought to be trained soldiers were acting like strippers for two men, two others faintly reminiscent of bodyguards or maitre d's.

"You crashed our party, buster," one of the two girls said and turned around to see the intruder. Now the raven-haired girl and the guy she was sitting on turned their heads two and Hunter found himself the centre of attention – something he did not enjoy particularly. "You!" Heresy exclaimed and brought her elbow around to knock out the guy she was sitting on. He was definitely not 'normal' guy material.

"Uh," said Luxie and looked from Heresy to Hunter to Dustin, unsure of what to do. Dustin ignored the fact that his friend was unconscious and turned to Hunter.

"Who are you?" Dustin demanded with the cool of a man who did not have an exotic dancer on his lap. Hunter rolled his eyes because normal he was not confronted with these kind of situations. He pulled the machine gun from his back and held it towards Dustin's head and was immediately tackled by the two bodyguards that were still standing.

Heresy had grabbed Luxie and the two girls were now standing by the unconscious man and plotting quietly. Dustin was still sitting confused the whole situation. He was sure that this man had come to kill him as someone had his brother and once the bodyguards had him in check, he could question the guy.

"Okay, what do we do?" Luxie asked quickly. "Manticore!"

"We've got to kick his ass."

"What about Dustin?" Luxie asked and glanced at the young man who was busy getting up. Heresy looked around quickly.

"There's no way we can get to the door with that ass blocking it. You'll have to knock him out or something," she suggested and Luxie groaned.

"Not again," she said and before Heresy could ask, Luxie had run over to Dustin and like an afraid girl thrown herself into his arms. Then she gave a muscle between his neck and shoulder a quick pinch and Dustin dropped to the couch loosing consciousness.

Meanwhile Hunter had thrown one of the bodyguards across the room and punched the other unconscious. However, it seemed doubtful the second would have much brain capacity after this incident.

"What are you doing here?" Heresy demanded and received nothing. The soldier just turned his head from the body on the floor to Heresy. Luxie was still standing by Dustin and looking from Hunter to Heresy.

"Leave him alone," she said after a while and Hunter slowly turned to look at her. Luxie glared at him with all the anger she could come up with.

"I don't think they gave this guy enough intelligence to talk," Heresy said with a smirk. She let her eyes wander. "Must be just a lowly RU, like me," she said and flicked a piece of hair behind her shoulder. Luxie knew she was directing most of her pheromones towards him.

"I'm nothing like the scum you are," the soldier finally hissed and shook his head. It seemed like he was shaking the pheromones off and both girls looked shocked on that he was able to do this. So far no one was able to resist that tall brunette's pheromones.

Then he pulled a pistol from his belt and fired a bullet at Luxie.

Luxie's eyes widened in shock and then closed to get ready for the impact. But Heresy had moved as soon as she had seen Hunter's arm move and the bullet dug itself into her left shoulder. When Luxie opened her eyes she saw Heresy's arm come round and punch Hunter across the face with such force he fell to the floor. Then Heresy grasped her shoulder for she had used her left arm to punch him.

"I'll take care of him," Luxie said with a hiss and rushed past Heresy. Before Heresy could protest Luxie stepped onto Hunter's hand to stop him from getting the gun and her other foot came up to kick him in the face.

He pulled his hand out from under her and his other came up against her throat. She kneed him in the stomach and kicked him in the crotch at the same causing him to stumble again and let her go.

"Ha," Luxie said with a smirk and jumped up delivering a flying kick to his face. "Never fear when Luxie's here."

"Just kill him already," Heresy yelled angrily. In all her years on the outside, she had learnt that if someone was after you, it was best to get rid of them rather than hurt them severely. If someone from Manticore had fought against you, they knew your moves and that was something she never wanted to repeat.

"Kill him?" Luxie asked and turned around in shock. She had had her share of murder but so far on the outside she had never killed anyone. She wanted to be a normal girls and normal girls did not kill guys twice their size.

Hunter took the opportunity to kick Luxie in the back letting a silent snap cross the room. Luxie swore loudly but Heresy's outburst surpassed her even in vulgarity. The stupid girl had let her guard down and gotten herself close to death.

The soldier cracked his neck as he got up and grabbed another gun from his side.

"You bitches are quite a lot of trouble," he said with a snarl and shot at Heresy. She had, however, ducked and rammed the fist of her still working arm into his stomach. Then she did the same with her broken arm and yelled out in pain. Hunter staggered. He had hoped to finish off the job but now he had the feeling all of his ribs had broken and he was definitely not going to be having any spawn in the near future.

"I'll get you," he growled and stormed out of the room holding his chest. It felt as if his organs were going to explode out of his body quite soon. Heresy and Luxie watched Hunter run off and then turned to each other in triumphant grins.

"Girl power," Luxie said with a wide grin and did a little victory dance. Heresy rolled her eyes and grabbed her hat.

"Get the guns," she said and staggered out of the room. Luxie nodded, grabbed the two guns which Hunter had lost and quickly followed Heresy out of the room.

It seemed to Jondy as if her life was just starting to begin, because now that she had Tom she was positive everything would start climbing and life would just get better and better. Neither of them seem to have developed any of the common 'alcohol' symptoms and were dancing the night away like it would go on forever.

Then suddenly Tom seemed uneasy and occasionally sniffed the air and Jondy tried to smell her armpits inconspicuously. Nothing.

"What's wrong?" she asked. Then she realized his hearing would not be as advanced as hers and was going to repeat the question while yelling. Before she could do this, Tom turned around.

"Nothing. I'm just looking for…" he paused as if seeming to find an appropriate word. 'God,' Jondy thought with a sigh. He had danced with her for hours and now he was going to tell her 'He's gay!'

"My brother," he said and stopped dancing. A wave of relief washed over Jondy but then Tom turned. "Uh, I'll see you around," he said with a short wave and ran off, not even bathing her in one of his wonderful smiles. Before Jondy could burst into a fit of tears or start punching people at random, she felt someone grabbed each of her arms and dragging her off.

She turned and found Heresy and Luxie rushing out of the club with such speed, Jondy knew something was worried. Then she noticed the blood running down Heresy's bare shoulder and Luxie's slight limp.

"What's going on?" she asked when they arrived outside and they three girls changed positions. Jondy grabbed the youngest of them and quickly ran towards the car. Heresy hobbled after them almost as pale as Luxie's general skin tone.

"Duh," Luxie said rolling her eyes and flinched when Jondy placed her onto the backseat.

"My leather seats," Heresy whined as she carefully hoisted herself into the passenger seat. She could fell the blood running down her back and the bullet pushing itself back into her body when she leaned back and cried out in pain.

"Shush!" Jondy said and slammed down the accelerator to rush away from the leering eyes.

It was long past midnight when the three of them arrived back at the apartment. At first Luxie had insisted they go after the guy and kick his ass, literally, but Jondy and Heresy knowingly did not follow the eighteen-year-olds advice. Soon after Luxie was whining for them to hurry up because every alteration in the road made the car move and shifted the bones in her almost broken spine.

At the apartment Heresy helped herself to a bottle of anaesthetics and a ripped up shirt she had found in Luxie's backpack. Soon she had fashioned herself a rather clumsy bandage and hobbled next to Jondy who was feeling around Luxie's back carefully under loud protests.

"Lower! Ah, fuck! Yeah, that's it."

"What are we going to do?" Jondy asked and moved her hand away making a mental note of the spot where the most pain had come from. "We can't take her to a hospital. They're take blood samples."

"I suggest we dump her in that ditch we dumped X6-010 in," Heresy said remembering her last murder. The three of them had unceremoniously dumped the female soldier into a ditch and the walked off without much care. "No one's going to notice."

"Du…" Luxie began and rather decided not to continue. Instead she decided to tell Jondy how to fix the problem. "You cut open my back, shift the vertebrae and sew it back together."

"Excuse me, what?" Jondy asked unsure if she had understood the pale girl properly.

"Learnt it back in '14," Luxie said and turned her eyes away from her blonde friend. "Girl in my unit got into a fist fight with me. She had the upper hand, but she turned and I kicked her. I guess I should have learnt not to turn my back on the enemy, but I never thought I'd be on the receiving end. Anyway, Lydecker made sure we do the procedure for purposes of team work and shit, so I did the shifting. I feel like throwing up just thinking about it."

"Lydecker supervised you?" Heresy asked and felt her spine shivering at the thought of his face in front of hers. She longed to punch and possibly rip his head clear off. Then she would go for his balls…

"No, I really need to throw up!" Luxie declared and turned. Luckily Jondy had taken her seriously and quickly grabbed a dustbin into which Luxie emptied her lunch and dinner. "Thanks," she muttered and spat some remainders into the bin as well.

"Get me a knife, Heresy," Jondy said looking at the brunette with such seriousness Heresy dared not disobey.

An agonizing twenty-seven and a half minutes later Jondy was using plain household thread to close the wailing Luxie's wound on her back. Heresy had had to answer the door twice and tell them they were just trying to get a splinter out of the girls foot and had tried on two occasions to stuff a sock into Luxie's mouth. Luxie had snapped at her favourite feline's hand at both times.

"I'll just… lie here," Luxie said after she had turned up tears running down her face. Two minutes later she had sat up and was watching Heresy struggle with her bandage. It had been done in a haphazard fashion and the piece of t-shirt were not responding well to staying where they were.

"Let me do that," Luxie finally growled. She could not stand watching the older woman's clumsiness and decided it was time to do something against it. Rather than protest, as Luxie thought she might, Heresy slumped down in front of the girl and removed the bandages.

Luxie grabbed a pair of tweezers that Jondy had used for her back and wiped them off on the already blood covered shirt. Carefully she manoeuvred it into Heresy's shoulder and pulled out the bullet.

"Check it out," she said with a wide grin on her face and held the bullet up to Heresy's orange-brown eyes. Heresy's altered blood had corroded the bullet and already disintegrated the end.

"Awesome," Heresy said with a wide grin and she took the bullet into her hand. "Memoirs for the kids of a super-human. Hey, why are you doing this?"

"That was supposed to be my bullet," Luxie said as she dabbed some alcohol onto the two holes. "Through my heart." She contemplated emphasizing the fact that Heresy had saved her life, but refrained from it with the knowledge of Heresy's arrogance.

Jondy smiled at the two of them as she watched them. If these two could heal each other's wounds and would take bullets for each other, she knew there was no way Manticore would get the better of them.

All they had to do was take down the guy that wanted them dead.


	3. Swift Recovery

Chapter Three: Swift Recovery

Luxie spent most of the next two days sitting on the couch and watching TV whining as much as her lungs allowed it. Heresy stayed in her room having turned the sound on her stereo up as high as possible. She wished that she could turned it even higher and drown out the sound that came from Luxie's mouth.

Jondy was out for almost the whole two days and only came back once in between to tell the two other transgenics that she was not happy with the situation, that they should get jobs and if they did not make a swift recovery they would pay – and hard.

"Heresy!" Luxie yelled over the blaring TV and screaming punk-rock bands. She knew Heresy would have heard her without having to yell as she had quickly discovered but this was important and Heresy had to know that. "Heresy!" she yelled again a while later.

"What?" she heard a vicious snarl from Heresy's bed room.

"Git!" Luxie demanded and knew she was going to be in for a beating soon. She could walk, although she winced with every step she took, but as soon as she was fully recovered Heresy's hands were going to be at her throat, trying to break Luxie's spine properly.

"No!"

"We have to get jobs," she yelled. "Proper ones," she added a moment later. Then Heresy stumbled out of the room. Her wound had healed but despite Jondy's yelling, the blonde had insisted she not use the arm yet. She had been given two stitches on each side to make sure the wound did not break either.

"It looked to me as if you were enjoy Dustin's lap dance more than he was," Heresy said with a smirk and adjusted her bangs. She was wearing her underwear which, Luxie had learned, was the most clothing she wore when she was in bed. During the two days a guy had come by the house for a few hours. Luxie had missed his face but she knew he had spent the whole time in Heresy's room, despite the way he looked. His visit explained the slightly more cheerful brunette.

"I was trying to get cash," Luxie said with a growl. She had in fact enjoyed the lap dance but she was not going to be admitting it to Heresy any time soon. "Did we get that cash?"

"Oh… yeah," Heresy remembered. She also had been having quite a good time with her 'customer' that she had forgotten the cash. During her dance she had just thought him another night's seduction. "Let's go back."

"When you say 'go back', you mean punch them till they give us money, right?" Luxie tired to clarify. She ran her hand down her spine mentally counting her vertebrae. It did not bother that she ended up having only seven of them because that was what she normally got where any one else had 33. The thirteenth vertebra she counted was slightly cracked but that was kid of obvious. She was glad that the soldier's kick had not instantly killed her or paralysed her and deep down in her unconscious she thanked Manticore for reinforcing her bones.

"When I say 'go back', I mean dress up and seduce the double amount of him," Heresy said with a smirk and returned to her room before Luxie could say anything else. Luxie gave a loud, ear-piercing shriek which received an equally loud 'shut up' from Heresy and began dressing again. The corset, fishnets and other hooker accessories as she called them had been stuffed into an empty shelf in Jondy's closet and she opted for a tight light blue v-cut t-shirt and low cut jeans. It was not anything particularly sexy but it was comfortable and that thought Luxie was the most important thing.

Jondy groaned into her beer. She had spiced up the large mug of disgusting alcohol with some vodka, coke and even added a tablespoon of absinthe was part of the mixture. She had left work early so that she could have another pitiful attempt at getting drunk.

Although it was rather helpful at times, Jondy was sure she would not have to drink a Russian general under the table very soon. She had already empty one mug of the same mixture and the bartender was watching her with interest.

"Say, Jondy, are things not going well at home?" Jondy looked up with her face portraying a yes.

"Why?" she asked and took a big gulp of her alcohol.

"For one, you've been guzzling so much beer over the last two days I would think your liver had disintegrated and two, haven't seen Heresy around for a while," he said and looked to the dance floor. The men were fairly spread out and no flocking to anywhere in particular which was always a clear sign that Heresy was not around.

"She's sick and I have to work so that I get cash for three people's food," she said with a great big sigh. "I really enjoy Luxie's company but if the two of them don't get their lazy, genetically-enhanced asses to work then…"

"Their what?"

"Lazy, giant, surgically-enhanced asses," Jondy corrected herself without much effort. Great, now she was not even drunk and still messing up what she was trying to say.

"Have you tried having a good time instead of drinking yourself into oblivion?"

"Urg," Jondy said and her head slid down on her hand. "I swear, if I could get a decent guy I'd mess it up. I'd even bet on that. Remember that guy from… that guy with the stripes," she said and pointed to her left cheek.

"Yeah, you quit that day, right? Want your job back?"

"I'm not much for behind the bar, Mark," Jondy said with a smile. "Anyway, he was great. He was hot and when I say hot, I mean even Heresy would consider monogamy. And nice. He was so sweet and well-built. Okay, right. That's about him. And then there's me – anti-relationship gal just wanting a bit of male attention and contact for once and I mess it up… I think."

"What do you mean?" Mark asked and gave a guy next to Jondy a beer. Jondy had lived in the club for long enough to know what she was supposed to look like after two and a half mugs of beer and vodka, so the guy did not bother even trying to chat her up.

"He ran away," Jondy sad and took two huge gulps from her mug. "He goes. Nothing's wrong. Gotta go. With like… not a glance at me. This sucks," she muttered and hung her head over the glass. She sat there for a while muttering curses to her existence, Manticore, Heresy, crazy super soldiers, Luxie and herself. Also, she found that the beer deserved a curse.

"Jondy," she heard Mark say and when looked up he nodded behind her. Jondy turned and her depressed facial expression went straight to confusion. Tom had just walked into the club and looked around. He was still on the bottom floor and possible looking for Jondy on the dance floor. Jondy laughed.

"Mister Oh-so-hot is looking for me on the dance floor," she said and smiled in his direction. Then his head snapped towards her as if he had heard her and he smiled too. Jondy threw a few dollars onto the counter and jumped off her stool. "Let's see if he can make my life worthwhile yet," she said and ran down the metal stairs.

"Hey," Tom said with a smile and gave her a hug. Jondy smiled in response.

"Hi." The two of them stared at each other for a while and then both opened their mouth at the same time. Jondy giggled.

"Wanna dance?" Tom asked and grabbed her hand before pulling her onto the dance floor. Soon the two of them had adapted to the rhythm and were dancing as if they had not left the place two days ago.

"What's with the tattoos?" Jondy asked and received a confused look.

"Oh," Tom suddenly remembered and ran his hand down his left cheek. "Just a thing I had when I was sixteen."

"I like them," Jondy told him with a smile and ran her hand across them. "Very different."

"You like different?"

"I'm on the top stair of different," she said with a smile.

"Listen," Tom began and stopped dancing. Then he pulled Jondy off the dance floor and they walked over to a bar on the lower floor. He ordered two beers and then turned to her. "I want to apologize for running off like that."

"I was kinda upset," Jondy admitted. "But had you waited a minute later, I would have disappeared too."

"Why?"

"Family stuff," she said with a shrug. "Why'd you leave? Your brother?" she remembered.

"Got into a bar brawl. He's not one of the nicest guys around."

"And you? Tough guy?"

"I supposed I can get pretty mean when I'm protecting a damsel," he said with a smirk. The beers had arrived and he passed one over to her. She took a deep gulp forgetting she was in the company of a human and she had to ration her drinking speed.

"Not a damsel," she said smirking back at him.

"I would never think…"

"Dustin!" Luxie suddenly exclaimed. Heresy turned to the raven-haired girl and raised an eyebrow in question. "The transgenics are after Dustin. We have to protect him?"

"Why? A guy that retails most of the major weaponry in the California area out of the way is a pretty good way of people not getting shot. He sells the guns to Manticore, you know."

"But," Luxie said and stopped because she had not found anything that worked to follow the word. She sighed.

"Well, while you're rubbing your body up against his, he'll be safe," Heresy said sarcastically. "To a certain extent."

"What are you going to be doing?"

"I dunno, finding someone to hook up with," the brunette said with a shrug. She had not really made a plan for herself yet but that would eventually fall into place. Luxie flicked Heresy's shoulder causing her to howl in pain. "Fine, I'll be there," she said with a growl.

"Good. Because I just know those soldiers will be attacking while we're there. They do that you know," Luxie explained. Back at Manticore Luxie had been allowed the privilege of watching many, many old movies in which the bad guys always seemed to choose to attack when there were armed forces everywhere.

Ten minutes later Jondy's eyes widened when she saw her two roommates rush into Savage. Heresy although mostly healed still had a scar to show her bullet wound and Luxie was skipping at every second step.

"What's the matter?" Tom said and turned to look back. He watched the two girls run past the dance floor and up the stairs."

"Uh," Jondy said trying to get some time to formulate a plot. "That was weird."

"Do you know them?" Jondy thought a moment and debated between truth and lie. She decided on the truth because if she was lucky, this guy would be around for a while.

"The tall one is my sister, the short one is… a friend," she said not sure what connection Luxie would have to them. She wondered what the two of them were doing here and hoped that it would not end in another massacre with the Manticore soldier. So far neither Dustin nor his friend or bodyguards had said anything to the media and the night had been for their eyes only (although they had been unconscious most of the time).

"Why are they running?"

"Maybe they need to pee," Jondy said with a shrug and turned back to Tom. She would not let those two demon women wreck her wonderful evening with Mister Dream Guy.

"Are you sure you don't want to check on them?" he asked sounding concerned. Jondy shook her head.

"Now, I'm sure they'll be fine. And if not, oh well," she said with a wide smile. Tom laughed and took another swig of his beer.

"Well, then. Where were we?"

"Luxie!" Dustin said and before she could rush past him, he grabbed her arm. She spun back and using the momentum he had created swung her leg around him.

"Just the guy I was looking for," she said with a smirk. Heresy skidded into a halt and watched the complete change in Luxie's attitude.

"Uh, well. I've actually been looking for you too," Dustin said seriously and gently pushed her off himself. "Come with me," he said and pulled her into a nearby room. Heresy wanted to follow but Dustin slammed the door shut in her face and locked the door.

"You bastard!" Heresy yelled. "I'm better than that failed experiment of theirs. I rock! I am sex! Open that door and let me in!" she yelled and got a few stares from the people around her. She ignored them and then leaned against the door angrily. She was angry but that would not make her as stupid as to knock down a door. Girls did not do that.

Inside the room Dustin immediately began pacing in a way that made Luxie quite uncomfortable.

"What's the matter?" she asked him slowly and he stopped. He stared at her. "Don't look at me like that."

"What happened that night?"

"What night?" Dustin glared at her. "Oh, that night," Luxie said slowly. "Er…"

"After that guy came in that other woman knocked Colin out. People don't just knock that guy out. He took down both out bodyguards and then you knocked me out."

"I did not."

"I distinctly remember you and then waking up with you gone. You, that other woman, that guy and his gun, all gone. I think that guy killed by brother."

"I ran away."

"What happened?" Luxie felt she had been talked into a corner. She was not one of the best people to keep secrets and she was getting very close to telling Dustin hers. Of course Dustin did supply her worst enemy with weapons that could kill her. "And what were you doing in my archives last week?"

"I was looking for the bathroom, kay?" Luxie tried to explain herself. "And… and… I ran away!"

"I think you're much deeper into this than you're telling me," Dustin said angrily. 'Damn,' Luxie thought. 'He was such a nice guy before.'

"And I think… birds get rabies too. Well, what do ya know, we're both wrong! Heresy!" she yelled before Dustin could say anything else and the door was knocked down. Lying in front of the room was the bodyguard that Dustin had left there and standing by the door was Heresy.

"What?" she asked with a growl.

"How did you do that?" Dustin asked wide-eyed.

"I thought he was back," Heresy asked Luxie angrily completely ignoring Dustin.

"Well, uh… other things came up. I think we should go. We don't need the money," Luxie said and turned to walk off. Dustin grabbed her arm and instinctively she grabbed his, twisted it and manoeuvred him onto the floor. "It would be better for you, if you didn't try and find out who we are," she warned him. Then she smelt something and her head turned towards the window. Heresy was looking in the same direction and just as Heresy was beginning to speak the soldier crashed through the window.

"I was quite sure that you two would be here, when I came back," he said gruffly. "And every time I try to kill you, you go and use that team work thing against me."

"Also we're two against one," Luxie said with a shrug and the two girls slipped into defensive positions. "Care to take us on again?"

"I don't think I'll bother," the guy said laxly. "A single punch and you'd both drop to the floor. You haven't recovered yet."

"How are your ribs, buster?" Luxie growled in response. "Not doing to uppity yourself, are you?"

"Caught me out, but I have guns," he said and before he could reach for them Heresy slipped out of the corner of his eye and grabbed his arms behind his back. She pushed her knee into his back pressing his intestines against his ribs. He gave no sound but it was obvious that he was in pain.

Then she turned him and got him to the ground just as Luxie had let Dustin hit the floorboards. Then she sat on his pelvis holding his arms to the floor. Dustin had sat up and Luxie was now crouching beside him and the two of them were watching Heresy take on the soldier. Heresy smirked.

"Only an RU would want to take advantage of this situation," the soldier said with a growl. Heresy glared at him and stopped moving her hips.

"Only a dog wouldn't," Heresy said sniffing.

"Good kitty," he responded sarcastically. "Took you long enough, didn't it."

"So. Why are you out to kill that guy?" The soldier turned to look at Dustin, who despite being surrounded by his wannabe murderer and two girls that seemed to have super-human strength was rather composed.

"I don't like his clothes."

"Ha, ha."

"It's my job, kitten. I kill people, you should know the deal," he said smugly. "But my mission files got updated last night – you're an '09."

"I'm so popular, I should get my own TV show."

"Hey!" Luxie interrupted. "Since when does this guy talk more than he has too?" Heresy looked down at the soldier with a shrug. Luxie got up and walked over to him. She crouched down beside him.

"Let's solve this case," she said and grabbed his mask.


	4. Revelation

Chapter Four: Revelation

"Ow," Luxie muttered and rubbed her neck. Somehow – something had happened and she was not quite sure what it was. She looked around finding Heresy sitting on a chair looking very angry and Dustin standing by the door watching her.

"What happened?" she asked confused.

"Mister I-Sell-Guns said another guy came in, knocked you conscious at the same time that my soldier rammed his head against mine. Then they ran away like wimps."

"They threatened me first," Dustin added to make sure she got the whole story.

"They didn't kill you? They had open way with us in Lala Land."

"I'm not complaining," Dustin said. And indeed he was not. It seemed that the anger he had shown towards Luxie before the 'attack' had fled completely and he had returned to his calm and tranquil style. "I'd just like to know what's going on before I get sniped."

"That's what got your brother killed," Heresy said tactlessly. "Knowledge is quite a bummer when you're dealing with secret non-government armies."

"What?"

"You know, I think we should talk about this elsewhere," Heresy said getting up. and stretched her back and rolled her shoulders to make sure everything was in tact. "That guy had some body," she said turning to Luxie. "I mean if his ribs weren't broken and he wasn't trying to kill me, I'd do him." She walked over to the door and stopped in front of Dustin. He had not moved away and it did not seem like he was planning to do so in the future either. "Get out of my way," Heresy growled.

"What's going on?" Dustin asked, this time looking at Luxie.

"We're genetically-enhanced humans with feline DNA. She can kick your ass in half a second and…" Luxie looked like she was thinking for something else she could tell him. "Those two guys probably want to kill you so that when you're dead Manticore can take over Infinity and make lots of weapons for just themselves."

"I think this requires a lot more explanation," Dustin said calmly although he was quite overwhelmed by the information. What Luxie was saying was that the two of them were… not human.

"Oh, we belonged to a branch in Seattle." Luxie seemed like she was going to explode. She was smiling and much to enthusiastic about the whole situation.

"Let's go home and get Jondy to cut open your head this time," Heresy said and pushed Dustin aside. When she walked towards the door he held his arm in front of her and she stopped, glaring at him angrily. "You mess with me and your fingers will all be pointing in the other direction in five minutes." With a glare Dustin moved his arm away and let her pass.

"Come on, Lux," Heresy said and stepped over the bodyguards before disappearing into the crowd. Dustin turned to look at Luxie.

"My name's Luxie!" she said with a growl in Heresy's general direction. Then she turned and looked at Dustin. "Yeah. Well, I guess I won't be seeing you around. Try not to get killed," she said with a hint of sadness in her voice as she walked towards the door.

When she was beside Dustin he stopped her, lightly touching her arm. She turned to look at him and he quickly pulled his arm away.

"Uh, look, do you still have my card?"

"Don't need it. Giant memory capacity," Luxie said with a shrug. Then she remembered she had problems with remembering things. "With a defect. Yeah, I have it."

"When you have the time, come by my office," he said blandly. Luxie could not make out if he was sad, happy or angry about finding out who she really was. There was no emotion in his voice and even his body language showed nothing.

"Yeah," she said softly and then quickly disappeared into the crowd. Despite Heresy's break in and the two soldiers clad in black, the crowd on the dance floor had not changed their focus from dancing up against the opposite sex.

Jondy walked into the apartment the next morning looking upset and angry. Tom had once again run off on her, leaving her to her lonesome and alcohol. She decided that next time she saw him, she would punch him because she would not just let him run her over.

She was very amazed to find both Heresy and Luxie sitting on the couch watching the television as if it had just insulted them. Heresy was even muttering curse words under her breath.

"And I thought I had a bad night," Jondy said, grabbed a milk carton out of the fridge and walked over to slump down onto the couch next to Luxie. "What happened?"

"Wanted to get the cash they owed us, got attacked by Mister Manticore, got knocked over the head," Luxie said quickly and grabbed the milk from Jondy she took a big sip letting the milk run down her chin.

"That's disgusting."

"What Luxie forgot to tell you, sister dear," Heresy said and Jondy knew that the brunette was in a bad mood. Any time she used affectionate words she was really, really angry. "Is that Mister Infinity knows what we are."

"What?" Jondy said her eyes wide. She looked at Luxie who was trying to pull off a 'puppy-dog eyes' on her. She glared.

"Er," Luxie said trying to find the right words in the span of time it took to pronounce the word. "You see," she said slowly hoping she could by more time. "He would have figured it out eventually. He's not as stupid as you guys think he is."

"I don't think he's stupid, Luxie," Jondy said calmly. "I just think that a guy who supplies weapons to the people who are trying to kill us, is not one of the best people to know our secrets."

"He won't tell!"

"Trust me, babe," Heresy said and gave a long sigh. "Guys that want to sleep with you, will still rat you out to the enemy."

"You saw how calm he was, Heresy. I don't think he will. He knows that we're the only ones who can help him take Manticore down," Luxie said quickly and got to her feet. Her butt was getting sore from sitting down and now seemed the best dramatic moment for changing her position.

"His best customers? Na-uh," Jondy said shaking her head. "I think you should beware of that guy. I think what Heresy's saying is right – God, that sounded strange."

"I don't care what Heresy says," Luxie said snidely. "I'll be out before you tomorrow, so don't go looking for me," she said with a faint growl in her voice and stormed into her/Jondy's room. Heresy burst into a fit of laughter when the door slammed closed behind the girl.

"What now?" Jondy asked angrily. She understood that when Luxie was feeling bad, Heresy was not. The fact that their secret was out was not a particularly good thing, but she really did not appreciate Heresy laughing about their situation.

"That girl," Heresy said with a smile on her face. "If you came out of Manticore, would you think she was one of us?" Jondy looked at Heresy. It was true, Luxie was not the typical Manticore product but she was still one of them. "Manticore soldiers, especially those that have been there for eighteen years, are not whiny-assed teenagers, Jondy," Heresy said slowly and shook her head. She got up off the couch and stood at ease. "Manticore soldiers are bright, aware of their surroundings and always ready for an attack. We are drilled with discipline from the moment we being to understand the concept of yes and no, but that girl does not listen to a word anyone tells her."

"You don't either," Jondy said not quite seeing Heresy's point.

"I've been out for twelve years, big sister. Luxie has been out for what, two weeks? Sure, we were the only ones that got out of an escape since '09 but I am so sure, she is not out on a mission," Heresy said and suddenly her facial expression changed. "What did she tell you, Jondy?"

"What do you mean?"

"What happened in Seattle?"

Luxie gritted her teeth as she heard Jondy tell Heresy about Manticore. It was gone, burnt to the ground and their unit, their siblings were running free. Heresy was sure Tinga had a hand in the destruction of Manticore – she always believed that woman would get to big heights.

After a while Luxie decided she did not want to listen anymore and turned to the wall beside Jondy's bed. It was covered in the barcodes of Jondy's old unit and photos of who they might be. Luxie tried to clear her mind but she could not get the sight of Dustin's calm face out of her mind.

It had been like he knew all along but she was sure he did not. He was a mere mortal and she – she was the spawn of hell, Satan's child, created by Donald Lydecker. She shivered when she remembered the name and his face replaced Dustin's.

"Lydecker is gone," she said calmly and heard the voices of others in her mind. Back when she had escaped Manticore she had lived underground with several other transgenics and they had had a mantra. "Lydecker is gone." There was no more Lydecker, no more Psy Ops, no more training, they were normal now. She held her hands over her ears and held her head low, repeating the sentence over and over again.

Luxie did not know how long she had slept but she realized that oddly enough her mind had woken her at precisely 6:30 am. It was strange because normally Luxie's feline genes kept her sleeping though till midday.

Quickly Luxie got up and fell onto her nose at first. She cursed hoping that the other two had not been rattled by the sound. Luxie pulled a pair of tight black pants out of her shelf and a white blouse out of Jondy's.

"She won't mind," Luxie said with a sneer. "For the cause!" Carefully she slipped all her things into her bag. A glasscutter, three packs of gum, an old comic book with several dog ears, glue, some other worthless junk she had found on the streets and a little notebook in which she had written a few important things. She breathed in deeply and then looked through the keyhole of the door.

Jondy was sitting in front of the television watching some early morning cartoons and Luxie knew that if she were to be stupid enough and escape through the front door wearing Jondy's best blouse, she would be in a lot of trouble. So she turned to the window, carefully slid it open and stepped out onto the ledge.

"Ha, ha," she told herself sarcastically as she looked down. She had forgotten that Jondy and Heresy's apartment was on the fifth floor and even for a transgenic the impact would be quite painful and induce many gashing wounds. Holding onto the inside of the window she leaned forward to look up and found there was only one other story above theirs and carefully closed the window.

Slowly she climbed to the top floor and when she arrived, spread her arms out and breathed in the disgusting, ashy air of Los Angeles.

She just hoped that her plan would work as well as it did in her mind – where there was a lot of singing, dancing and food. Also for some odd reason, there was a Manticore soldier who looked real good, but was not in focus enough for her to be completely sure.

Luxie shook her head to removed the complete image from her mind and took off in the direction of Infinity Industries.

Dustin leaned back in his seat looking at the files he had just read through. Of course, there were still several unread ones but he had found enough to make him need a rest. From what he had read, he gathered that Luxie had been telling the truth, but he had already guessed that with the assassins.

Manticore was a secret facility that genetically enhanced unborn embryos with animal DNA, which explained why both Heresy and Luxie had been so fast – felines, as Luxie had said. At first he wondered how they had gotten so strong, but it seemed that these genetically-enhanced humans were trained there as if they were in the army.

They had learnt army procedure and all kinds of fighting techniques since they could walk. It was amazing that any of them even had a drop of humanity in them – but as Dustin had been the witness of Luxie, he knew that genetically-enhanced did not mean inhuman.

Her companion – the girl with the strange hair – looked like a model, not something that he would expect to see in an army facility. It seemed that things that came out of Manticore were actually quite good-looking, as even Luxie had proven that point. However, Dustin had found files of – things – that did not even look remotely human.

It was X-series he was looking at. Heresy and Luxie were both part of the X-series which was composed of basic humans enhanced by animal DNA – they looked like anyone and the only way to tell was of course to test their strength or find a barcode on the back of their necks.

Dustin groaned and leaned his head forward onto the table. In taking over his father's company, Dustin had inherited himself into something a lot more complicated than the media presented. Infinity Incorporated had cost him his brothers life and Dustin assumed that even his father had not been as innocent to this as it seemed.

"Damien must have found out what they really are. I guess that they just want to kill me for the company," Dustin told himself and raised his head inches off the table. He pushed aside the paper he had last read and turned to a new piece. This one was an article from the Seattle Post.

GENETIC MONSTERS LOOSE IN SEATTLE Burnt Down Hospital Residents Are Not Human 

By Warren Trent

A few days ago a Seattle hospital burnt down revealing a surprisingly small amount of human remains. Amidst the ashes only an average of 53 bodies were found but the facility was large enough to hold over 1,000 patients along with half as many doctors and nurses. Even if there were not as many patients to fill the whole hospital, would there not be at least 500 people present? So where did the 1,450 remaining residents disappear to?

According to many, many rumours the large hospital just outside of Seattle, Washington was not what it claimed to be. 7 out of 10 people claim that the facility actually housed a secret government experimental area – which the government readily denies.

The special of the day in this place – which many claim to be called Manticore – is an army of super soldiers and beasts ready for a war that many have predicted since the Pulse in 2009. However, reports have shown that Manticore has been occupied for a long time before 2009.

In 2009 there had been several security checks in Seattle and many residents will remember the increased security along with the hovercrafts watching our every move. Apparently thirteen of the Manticore soldiers – aged between 9 and 12 years old – escaped the facility. The thirteen children have been living among us for 12 years and we have not noticed anything odd about the people who claim to be our wives, our husbands, our business partners.

Why not?

Manticore's X-Series is a project that directly altered the DNA of embryos while still in their mother's womb, changing them from normal humans to genetic freaks. The X-Series, although the most beautiful of Manticore's creations, are considered the most deadly thing to come from the facility.

Unlike normal humans these creatures have strangely altered DNA with animal traces in it. Their mind-capacity is larger than ours, as are their stamina, speed, strength and immune system. If your best friend is drinking a lot more alcohol than a human should be able to handle – that friend might not be human at all.

If you think you might know an X-Series check the back of their neck. The DNA structure that Manticore created has caused the creatures to have a barcode on the back of their neck – humans have names, Manticore soldiers have numbers.

The article went on with things that Dustin already knew and slowly the accusations were getting to him. Something about his history lessons back in days where there were actual history lessons ran through his mind. Had not the black population, the Jews been treated the same way that these transgenics were being treated too? Outcast and hated for being different.

He wanted to read something that gave more insight, he supposed, into the mind of a trangenic. He hoped that the Seattle Post had thought it decent enough to post an article that one of them had written. He pushed Trent's article aside and smiled at his luck.

Just as he began to read, his intercom buzzed. A low growl escaped his throat and he pushed the button.

"What?"

"Uh, sir," came a voice that was unfamiliar to him.

"Where's Tina?"

"Tina was fired, sir." Dustin was much too concentrated on his Manticore issue to be shocked by the news. "A friend of hers called. She was busted for child molestation."

"Oh, okay," Dustin said indifferently although he was slightly confused. She had seemed a quite person who would not harm a fly, let alone a child. "Get me a new secretary."

"We're having interviews already."

"Good. Let me know when you're done," Dustin muttered and turned back to his article.


	5. If You Prick Us

Chapter Five: If You Prick Us…

IF YOU PRICK US… 

By Kuroi/X4-000/339182000000

It might confuse you to read the name of the author because would you not expect something along the lines of John Smith, Thomas Walker or Jeffrey Hanson?

However, I was born without name. From the moment I was able to understand I was referred to as X4-triple zero. I was taught how to hold a gun as soon as I could grasp something without dropping it every two seconds. I learned military hand signals when I was four.

Ever since I turned two I have lived with a unit. Although the guards and 'doctors' referred to us as Unit 1, we were a family.

I remember 010 whom we all thought an idiot. Until he was twelve, all he ever did was take things and put them together. It took _them_ that long to figure it out and he was placed into a different unit. I remember exactly that it was the Electronics and Weapons unit.

I also remember 017 leaving us because she had been transferred to our SWAT (ed. special weapons and tactics) unit because of her exceptional speed when putting together a gun, giving us commands and keeping us all alive.

Of course, we were all trained in SWAT, TAC (ed. tactical air command), basic gun control and some of us even knew traffic control for god knows what reason. However, soon we were all separated into pairs of two – male and female. Our X4 DNA was unstable and the RU (reproduction unit) process only started with X5s but to created the perfect soldier duo Manticore needed instinctive female intuition along with male charm. It was something that we had because were human.

Myself and X4-274 have been training together since I was 16 and she was 14. We have gotten to know each other so well that we call each other brother and sister. Our books, movies and the guards' conversations with each other influenced our upbringing and the way we communicate with each other.

After reading some of the hateful articles in the papers and magazines, I thought I might try and fend for myself, my sister and all the other 'creatures' from Manticore.

I agree that not all of us are the most beautiful things upon this earth and not all of us seem to be human. But I assure you that we feel and we understand pain as well as any of you. I have heard people labelling us inhuman and bestial but what is human and as opposed, what bestial?

The dictionary definition of human describes them as this:

**human** /'hju_׃_mən'/ adj **1** of or characteristic of people, contrasted with God, animals or machines **2** (approv) kind; good; having or showing the better qualities of people

**human** n a man, woman or child; a person

I know that some of the creations at Manticore are not like that, but they are wild animals or pets to us – lions and dogs is all some of them are. You play with them and they will love you, anger them and they will hurt you. Does the same not apply to you? I know it does to myself.

The X-Series is the least of your problems and not who you should be attacking.

We were born and bred soldiers, we learnt to kill when we learnt to speak and now that we have escaped the clutches of our evil masters, we learn to die when we are just beginning to learn what living means.

Another dictionary states that being human means being able to relate to emotion. I grieve for the siblings you kill, I fear for 017, I fear for 010 and I fear for my sister. I know that she fears for my safety because ever since the fire we have been parted and I feel a pain in my chest when I think she might be dead.

I have given myself a name so that I may be able to live in this society and be accepted as one of your own. In the past did our ancestors not do the same for those who looked different than others?

So I was trained to be a soldier and to kill on command, but did I not run from who I was? Did I not run from being oppressed by the sinners that created me? I want to be part of this society and live amongst you as a friend, a brother, a father…

I was 339182000000, I was X4-triple zero.

My name is Kuroi.

I leave you with a Shakespearean quote from The Merchant Of Venice and hope that it might give you insight into who we are:

We are genetically-enhanced humans

Hath we not eyes? Hath not we hands, organs, dimensions, senses, affections, passions? Fed with the same food, hurt with the same weapons, healed by the same means, warmed and cooled by the same winter and summer, as a human is? If you prick us, do we not bleed? If you tickle us, do we not laugh? And if you wrong us, shall we not revenge? If we are like you in the rest, we will resemble you in that.

Dustin smiled and shook his head at the article he had just read. He felt much more sympathy towards the transgenics than he did those in Seattle who opposed them. He had to do something. He knew that with all the money he had he could make sure that these – humans lived their lives to the fullest.

The intercom buzzed interrupting his thoughts of making the world a better place. He sighed.

"Yes?"

"Sir, we might have filled the position for your assistant, sir," came the voice and Dustin was slightly taken aback again, that it was not Tina.

"Send him in," he said and let go of the button. He looked at his clock. He had been sitting here for ten hours. With that realization he noticed his behind becoming slightly numb and got up.

"Heya!" he heard a familiar voice and turned to see Luxie grinning widely at him. He fell back down onto his chair and she burst out laughing. "I'm not that overwhelming," she said with a grin.

"What are you doing here?"

"New assistant, dummy."

"What!" Dustin exclaimed and got out of his seat. "I can't have you as my assistant. I – you – they – they want me killed." Luxie rolled her eyes and sniggered.

"Wouldn't I be the best person to have around then?"

"But… you could get killed," Dustin said slowly. To be honest, he was quite sure that Luxie would get killed – she might have the strength of a man twice her size but she did not seem like the soldier he would employ.

"Aww, that's sweet, but I'm the last person that'll be dying around here," she said smirking and walked over to the table. Instinctively Dustin raised his hand motioning to the chair opposite his desk but Luxie just plonked herself onto the desk.

"So," Dustin said slowly. "what are you doing here?"

"You said I should come by."

"I'm not so sure that was a good idea anymore," he said slowly. Luxie looked down at his desk and Dustin noticed she had spotted an article. They both reached for it at the same time but Luxie's speed was considerably faster than his

"Genetic monsters," Luxie read the title of the article. She looked up and Dustin saw she was angry. Not just normal angry, but pissed off. She put the article back on her desk. "So, that's what I am now." She got up and cracked her neck. "Heresy was right. I thought I could trust you, Dustin, but it seems that you're just another one of those… those people who want to see what's inside of me. I've lived a lifetime of suffering and I came here in the hopes of being normal. Meeting guys is a normal thing, huh, ain't it? But as soon as they find out who you are, they want to stick you onto a table and cut you open!" she yelled now almost on the verge of tears. Dustin got up quickly.

"Don't you fucking get closer to me!" she yelled and felt the first tears running down her face. "Try me! Come on, try and get me!" Dustin slowly walked around the table and Luxie moved back. She was not as tough as she was putting out to be. "Get away! Come and get me!" she yelled and stumbled. Dustin rushed forward and caught her. "Lemme go," Luxie whined but Dustin helped her to her feet and kept her in his arms.

"Shh," he said quietly and remembered Kuroi's article. All they wanted was to be loved. He ran his hand through her hair and listened to her hiccough through her tears. "Shh."

"That stupid girl has gone done and ran away," Heresy said. Jondy was in the kitchen laxly leaning over the kitchen counter and drinking a cup of hot coffee. Heresy was angry and that amazed the blonde a bit.

"So?" she said after a while of Heresy walking through the apartment throwing clothes around and muttering curses under her breath. "I thought that's what you wanted?"

"Yes!" Heresy yelled and sat down on one of the barstools. "But now that she's gone and told her boyfriend about us, we're not going to be safe for much longer, big sister. Hunted down like before. He'll rat us out like the rat he is. Damn good-looking, rich rat!"

"I think you should calm down, Heresy. Luxie will be back."

"Why?"

"I just think she will." Heresy was just going to argue when the phone rang. Then she stuck her tongue out at Jondy and waited for the blonde to pick up the phone. Heresy never did, for fear of a past lover coming back. Jondy pulled the phone from its holster on the wall.

"What?" she asked. She never revealed her name on the phone unless she knew who it was. And politeness towards a voice – forget about it.

"Jondy?" came the voice carefully.

"Tom?" Jondy asked shocked. "How did you get my number?"

"Apparently a lot of people have the number of your roommate – the one with the green hair," he said and she knew he was smiling. Jondy glared at Heresy who grinned. She was listening in on the conversation and she could never deny a thing like that to her sister.

"What do you want?" Jondy asked gruffly. She was still angry about what he had did the night before. She had ended up sitting alone until she had finally given up and returned home.

"Look, I'm really sorry I ditched you twice, but I remembered my brother wasn't supposed to be there, because of what happened last week," Tom apologized. Jondy said nothing. It was quite a weak apology.

"What does it concern me?" she said when he waited for her to respond.

"I want to make it up for you."

"So, what? We meet at Savage, and you ditch me again?" she asked with a hint of a growl in her voice. Jondy thought she heard him breath in deeply, the way one did when one was loosing one's patience. 'That teaches him,' she thought with a grin.

"Not really," he said retaining his nice boy attitude. "What are you doing tonight?"

"Nothing." Despite her anger, she still wanted to know what he was up to.

"Can I invite you to dinner then?"

"Possibly."

"I'd like to take you somewhere nice."

"Somewhere nice? In LA?" Jondy huffed with a grin across her face.

"It's a great place. Hollywood," Tom said trying to sound convincing.

"Hollywood is not as great as it's made out to be," Jondy said with a shrug. It was better than most of Los Angeles but still not 'somewhere nice'.

"I'm sure it'll be nicer once you're there." Jondy blushed. She was usually not one for lame pick-up lines but it made for a good excuse to get away from Heresy.

"Sure," she said. "Pick me up at Savage though."

"Five?"

"See you there." She put the phone down and her smile was interrupted when she was Heresy with a sneer across her face.

"You're going out with a guy who ditched you twice?"

"You would."

"I'd know it were ending in sex. That guy sounds way to nice," Heresy said and fixed one of her bangs. Jondy rolled her eyes and finished her coffee which was cold by now.

"I'm going to work. Don't wait up for me."

"What am I supposed to do?"

"Wait for Luxie." Heresy glared at her. "Order out."

"Good idea," Heresy said and changed her glare to a grin. "I'll order pizza." Jondy laughed and continued doing so as she left the apartment. When Heresy said she was ordering pizza, it meant she was ordering a pizza boy.

It was almost eight when Luxie returned to the apartment. The Chinese delivery guy was just leaving with a very pleased grin on his face. Heresy was coming out of her room and pulling on a top while balancing an empty box of take-out in one hand.

"Hello, cupcake," she said with a grin on her face and Luxie supposed that it was because of her increased sex life. A faint growl escaped Luxie's throat as she stomped into Jondy's room. The brunette watched the other girl but did not say anything. She did not care very much why Luxie was in a bad mood or where she had been the whole day. It was common for either herself or Jondy to 'take the day off' when things were not going very well and it seemed that Luxie had gotten over their spat the night before.

Half an hour later Heresy was quite bored with having someone to talk with but who preferred not to do so. She switched her stereo off and listened for a while before getting up off her bed and walking into Jondy's room.

"Hey," she said and leaned onto the door panel. Luxie looked at Heresy. She was lying on her back and had been staring at the barcodes on the wall. Her mind had wandered back to Manticore and she remembered certain experiences.

When Dustin had finally gotten the raven-haired girl calmed down the two of them had talked it out and eventually Luxie had grasped the concept that someone did not mind her being a transgenic. They had sorted things out and Luxie was to start her job the following Monday.

The only way she had thought of getting into the building apart from the wire of their last excavation was getting a job. Since she needed one she thought she might rather get one where she could be close to the guy she liked. She had gotten Dustin's current secretary out and herself in. Although she was not quite sure what she was supposed to do, her typing and filing skills had impressed the staff. The way she had even been able to identify some of the guy hanging as decoration had made her the prime choice.

"Sup?"

"Nothing," Luxie said with a glare. She was kind of suspicious about Heresy being friendly to her since the two of them had never been the best of buddies.

"Then where were you all day?"

"Getting a job," Luxie answered with a shrug. That had taken ten minutes of her day but being calmed down and inspecting Los Angeles was much more of an effort and she had used up the rest of the day doing that.

"Pissed off because?"

"Not pissed off. Interested because?"

"Jondy was worried," Heresy explained after being caught out. She would never admit to it but she had worried too. She was not fond of Luxie taking her place as youngest in the household nor did she like the girl's personality very much, but there was something. She hated the girl but she had never had anyone that might get hurt because of her. The others in her unit had all been older than her and although they had done it unconsciously, they had always protected her. With Luxie around it was her turn.

"Where is she?"

"Date." Heresy's mind slithered away from Luxie being back and slowly turned to more important issues. "Do I have to kill Dustin?" Luxie raised her eyebrows in response to the strange question. She herself was known to utter stranger things but there was nothing wrong with Dustin. "Cause I can if you let me."

"You're asking me for permission?" Heresy shrugged. "No, then."

"If he tells anyone – he gets his head blasted off," Heresy said with a smirk that might have been a playful gesture but somehow, Luxie doubted there was a lie hidden in the brunette's statement.

"He won't. We just have to deal with those two soldiers," Luxie said changing the subject. She was not fond of the two of them because they seemed to keep coming back for a beating and someone on either side always came out a bit worse. She had strained her mind for a long time on why they had left Dustin alive but then drifted off after not having found an answer.

"I suppose."

"Dustin will supply us with some guns," she informed the other. "He says he'll help in any way necessary."

"Good for him." Luxie sat up and the two of them stared at each other in silence for a while. "Welcome to the real world, where you're hunted down like the prey that used to be yours."

"It's better out here than in there," Luxie said with a shrug.

"I suppose," Heresy answered with a shrug. Then Luxie stood up and when she started walking towards the brunette Heresy took a step back. Luxie leaned her head against the other woman's chest and let a deep sigh escaped her. Unsure of what to do, Heresy placed her hand onto Luxie's back.

"Don't die," she said in a voice completely unlike her own and the two of them remained like that for a while.


End file.
